Forestry Commission suspects arson in McClellanville fire

More than 2,400 acres of mostly private land in the Lowcountry was burned in March and Scott Hawkins with the South Carolina Forestry Commission says they are investigating the fire as an arson.

At some point after the fire was contained, our law enforcement folks got to work trying to determine it’s origin. What we have been able to determine over the last week or so is that this fire appears to have been intentionally set, so it’s being referred to as arson. That doesn’t mean that whoever set the fire intended for it to become a wildfire.

Hawkins says the “Windy Fire,” which burned in McClellanville, near Charleston, was contained on March 25.

Fortunately there were no reports of injuries or deaths. We did lose three to 16 structures, depending on how you define loss. They were burned over structures, but none of them were residences.

Hawkins says they do not have any suspects at this time, but the agency’s law enforcement are working on it.

You don’t always find the suspects because of the nature of the crime is in a remote area. You do your regular, good ‘ole fashioned police work and talk to folks who may have been witnesses or may have been in the area at the time, and try to determine who was in the area at the time of the fire. If you can, talk to them and gather enough evidence to prosecute someone, if you can. At this point, we have no suspects.

The fire started burning in northern Charleston County around the Santee River.